The golden era in the Austrian biathlon is a few years ago, especially in the men’s area. Now one of the main protagonists of that time should lead the ÖSV team back into the top of the world.
For Austrian biathlon sports, the hands stand on five to twelve. In the past World Cup season, only Lisa Theresa Hauser was able to keep up with the world leaders in the overall ranking with the overall ranking, but was the only ÖSV lady in the top 40th best athlete in the men’s team was 42-year-old Simon Eder in 36th.
Now an Austrian biathlon legend, who once celebrated great success together with Eder, is to “pull the cart out of the dirt again”. We are talking about Christoph Sumann, who was officially confirmed by the ÖSV as the new sporting director on Wednesday. The 49-year-old succeeds Franz Berger, who voluntarily withdrew from office after five years.
At least the renovation measures at the management level have been completed, which the Austrian association had announced after the sobering season.
Austria relies on Sumann: “Absolute biathlon expert”
ÖSV boss Mario Stecher is convinced that Sumann will use his experience to get the team back into shape. “With Christoph Sumann we were able to hire a former world-class athlete and absolute biathlon expert as the new sporting director and I am really looking forward to working together,” he commented on the decision for the ex-biathlon star.
Of course, this is accompanied by a certain expectation. In view of “his experience and his profound knowledge”, according to Stecher, it is undisputed that “our team will make a connection to the top nations under his leadership both for men and women”.
ÖSV team strongly shaken: hope in the women’s area
However, a hard way is waiting for Sumann. The only top 40 athletes in the past season, Lisa Theresa Hauser (11th), Simon Eder (39th) and David Komatz (39th) are all over 30 years old. However, the ÖSV team was recently persecuted by the bad luck.
The biggest hope of hope, Anna Gandler (24 years), had to struggle with health problems, had to stop the season prematurely and only reached the 43rd overall. Felix Leitner (28 years), who caused a sensation a few years ago, also had to put some health setbacks away and ended up in 60th place. The current sprint junior world champion Anna Andexer (22 years) could also create the connection to the world.
Austria is looking for a new biathlon head coach
It is still unclear who will lead the Austrian team as a coach in the coming Olympic season. Vegard Bitnes had to vacate his post and assistant Dominik Landertinger also left the team. It will be one of the first tasks for Sumann to quickly provide clarity in this important position.
With his two silver medals at World Championships and Olympic Games (once in the season and in a single race) and second place in the overall World Cup 2010, Sumann is one of the most successful Austrian biathletes in history. Together with Landeringer and Eder, he led the strongest Austrian generation. Now he should show that he can also bring the successor generation upwards.